Humanitarian Research Group

Sharing is (S)caring: Partnerships for Pandemic Response

No business can snap its fingers and magically produce billions of something out of thin air overnight. With huge demand before these vaccines even exist, how do we cope? – better yet: how do we prepare? One thing is certain: hope alone won’t get us anywhere. We must carefully prepare in advance.

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This article, published in August 2020, was written by Gina Fialka, Luk Van Wassenhove, and Prashant Yadav (INSEAD HRG).

Africa’s Drone Medical Delivery Service Saves Lives in Lockdown

Could airborne despatch of medical supplies also be the answer to the needs of developed countries? Prashant Yadav discussed Zipline's African services at a recent webinar hosted jointly by the Washington-based Centre for Global Development (CGD) and INSEAD’s Humanitarian Research Group.

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This article, published by INSEAD Knowledge in June 2020, was written by Prashant Yadav (INSEAD HRG).

Why Public Healthcare Systems Weren’t Prepared for the Pandemic

Designing sharing systems could effectively alleviate the issues without excessive costs and regional cooperation might actually increase in response to pandemics of the future.

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This article, published by INSEAD Knowledge in June 2020, was written by Shantanu Bhattacharya (Singapore University of Management), Sameer Hasija (INSEAD) and Luk Van Wassenhove (INSEAD HRG).

India’s COVID-19 Testing Capacity Must Grow by a Factor of 10: Here’s How That Can Happen

As of June 1, 2020, India had conducted approximately 3.8 million tests since it began testing in February, but many experts have noted that testing capacity is still drastically insufficient for the needs of the population.

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This article, published in June 2020, was written by Prashant Yadav and the Center for Global Development.

Understanding the Impact Of COVID-19 On Essential Medicine Supply Chains

In this blog we outline some of the challenges in the global supply of medicines and introduce a methodology that will enable countries to spot early challenges in supply, allowing them as well as global development partners and industry to plan ahead and pre-empt falling short.

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This article, published in June 2020, was written by Prashant Yadav and the Center for Global Development.

What Does Success Look Like for a COVID-19 Vaccine? Improving Portfolio Level Understanding

With the stakes being so high and unprecedented amounts of public monies “pushing” and “pulling” products along, portfolio risk analysis and hedging are increasingly being discussed, alongside research aiming to understand the optimal research and manufacturing strategy.

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This article, published in June 2020, was written by Prashant Yadav and the Center for Global Development.

Protecting Community Health Workers: PPE Needs and Recommendations for Policy Action

Community health workers (CHWs) are often the first point of care for vulnerable and underserved populations in low- and middle-income countries. Personal protective equipment (PPE) is required for CHWs to safely support COVID-19 response efforts and maintain essential services.

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This article, published in June 2020, was written by Prashant Yadav and the Center for Global Development.

INSEAD Insights on Disease Outbreaks

The COVID-19 crisis has created significant disruption to business globally. To help governments, policymakers, and business leaders engage together to meet this challenge, the article lists insights associated with outbreaks more generally based on previous and ongoing research on related topics.

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This article was written by INSEAD Humanitarian Research Group and INSEAD Healthcare Management Initiative.

Flattering curves: Leveraging the shapes of a pandemic.

Testing kits being a scarce and finite resource, abundance in one country contributes to shortages in another. Can countries effectively help one another other by reallocating surplus inventories across borders? Supported by supply chain management theory, we posit they can.

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This article, published in June 2020, was written by Luk van Wassenhove (INSEAD HRG) and Kim Van Oorschot (BI Norwegian Business School).

Cycles of pan(dem)ic and neglect: Learning from supply chain tsunami research

In trying to make sense of what is going on, many people have called the pandemic a ‘black swan’, a term coined by Nassim Taleb. We argue it is not and that labelling it as such is not only highly confusing but unconducive to the situation.

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This article, published in May 2020, was written by Luk Van Wassenhove (INSEAD HRG) and Henk Akkermans (Tilburg University).

Personal Protective Equipment Shortages During COVID-19: Supply Chain–Related Causes and Mitigation Strategies

Gloves, face masks, N95 respirators, powered air-purifying respirators, eye protection, and gowns are central to transmission-based precautions. Initial delays in COVID-19 testing increased PPE use, further intensifying demand.

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This article, published by JAMA in May 2020, was written by Prashant Yadav (INSEAD HRG), Preeti Mehrotra and Preeti Malani

Too little, too late: Outpaced by Covid-19

Covid-19 outpaced efforts to strengthen medical supply chains and brutally exposes vulnerabilities due to the general lack of preparedness.

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This article, published in April 2020, is partially based on an unpublished manuscript of the MIA project team, and was written by Luk Van Wassenhove and Sarah Dewilde from INSEAD Humanitarian Research Group.

The Early Bird Catches the Worm: Why Routine Diagnostic Testing is Vital for Pandemic Preparedness

With the Covid-19 pandemic unfolding rapidly and measures becoming more drastic by the day, we should humbly accept that each outbreak catches us ‘by surprise’. Why aren’t we better prepared? Can we be, and if so: how? The answer: our approach towards diagnostics needs to be revolutionized.

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This article was written by Dr. Rudi Pauwels (Founder & President of Praesens) and the INSEAD Humanitarian Research Group.

Supplying the Frontline of the War on Coronavirus

Countries and businesses must fight as one to prevail over the pandemic. Manufacturing companies that are not in the medical device business, can come in and partner and lend their expertise to medical equipment manufacturers

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This article, published by INSEAD Knowledge in April 2020, was the result of a webinar on "Coordinating Pharma and Medtech Supplies for COVID-19" with Prashant Yadav (INSEAD HRG).

Prashant Yadav on Vaccine Distribution for COVID-19

The development of possible vaccines for the COVID-19 virus are advancing at a record pace, raising hopes that a vaccine will be available for large-scale distribution in 18 to 24 months. When a vaccine arrives, global distribution must happen on an equitable basis.

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This article, published by Harvard Business Review in April 2020, was written by Prashant Yadav (INSEAD Humanitarian Research Group), Rebecca Weintraub and Seth Berkley.

COVID-19: Preparing for the Worst Before Crisis Strikes

A stitch in time saves nine, but needles and thread are often in short supply due to funding shortfalls until a state of emergency is declared. Research shows a faster and more efficient response is possible if operational decisions are made pre-crisis, rather than during a crisis.

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This article, published by INSEAD Knowledge in February 2020, was written by Prashant Yadav and the Humanitarian Research Group.